Violin-bow.



- Patented Dec. 5, I899. G. H. GREGG.

VIOLIN BOW.

(Application filed May 12I 1899.)

' (No Model.)

. /NVENTO 3 W 52%" WITNESSES.

UNITED STATES PATENT Trice.

GILBERT H. GREGG, OF DAVENPORT, IOIVA.

VIOLIN-BOW.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 638,508, dated December 5, 1899.

Application filed May 12, 1899. Serial No. 716.611. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GILBERT H. GREGG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Davenport, in the county of Scott and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Violin-Bows; and I do declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings making a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Figure l is a perspective view of a violinbow, the middle portion broken away, fitted with my improvements, which consist of an improved frog and tip or head. In this view the bow-hairs are not shown, the clamping lids or covers being raised to show the operating parts. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of my improved bow, taken when the ends of the bow-hairs have been adjusted and held in place by the clamping-lids of the frog and head. Fig. 3 is a modification of the means for holding the hairs in the frog, while Fig. 4 is the combing-plate, which is one of the important elements of my device;

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The objects of my invention are as follows: to produce a violin-bow from which the hair may be readily removed and replaced by any person, whether skilled in the art or not; to so construct a violin-bow that the hair may be securely held in the head and frog without the use of glue, and to provide means whereby the hair may be combed and evenly spread or distributed over the space it ordinarily occupies and remain so distributed.

In thedrawings, A is the staff, provided at its outer end with the usual head B.

O is the frog.

D is the hair.

The head Bis provided with a metal ring a, which may have an opening, the two ends adapted to be secured together. This ring encircles the head B, its top edge being flush with the top of the said head. Hinged to the top edge of said ring is the clamping lid or cover I), provided with a narrow transverse opening 0. On the under side of said lid is secured a block The front end of said lid is adapted to be fastened down to the ring a, a small screw e serving to hold the lid and the ends of the ring together.

In my invention I recess the face of the head, thus form-- ing a socket f.

Violin-bow hairs are ordinarily placed upon the market for sale with one end secured together by a knot or glue,while the other end is loose. The knotted end I place in the socket f. The loose ends are passed through the opening 0 from the under side. The lid 7) is then pressed down and fastened by the means described. Thus the block (1, pressing down into the socket f, holds the knot-ted ends of the hairs firmly, as shown in Fig. 2.

The frog 0 is adjustable longitudinally by means of the screw-rod D, which has the tip E secured to its outer end for convenience in operating. This adjustable feature of the frog is old and common in all violin-bows, and will therefore not be further described, as its operation is well known. In inyinvention I prefer to make the frog of metal.

I provide a plate F and form on its under side a screw-threaded ring to engage with the screw-rod D for the longitudinal adjustment of the frog. This plate F may be connected with the hair-clamping portion of the frog in any suitable manner, and is preferably made integral therewith. This clamping piece consists of a bed-piece G, preferably recessed or concave, a clamping-lid H, hinged to the bed-piece at one side, as at I, means for fastening the lid down upon the bed-piece, and the smaller parts, which I will now describe.

In the bed-piece I secure a plate J, upon which the hair is adapted to lie. On the opposite side of said bed-piece I secure another plate K, leaving between the two plates the socket or recessed portion L. The plate K, I do not secure to the sides of the bed-piece as may be done with the plate J, but I leave a small space between the sides of the bed-piece and said plate and at the end. Hinged similarly to the clamping-lid or secured to the u nder side of said lid His the block M, adapted when the lid is down to rest in the socket L.

N is the comb, adapted to be drawn through the hairs, thus arranging them evenly. The comb, with the hairs under it and distributed between its teeth, is then placed upon the plate K, the teeth passing down in the space allowed for them and the side walls 0 O of the comb passing down in the spaces provided for them between the sides of the bed-piece means of the pin P, as shown, the block M,

pressing the hairs into the socket L, and lid II, pressing upon the comb and plate .I, will hold the hairs firmly and at the same time evenly spread without the use of any glue or screws.

It will now be seen that when the knotted end of the hairs has been secured in the head B, as described, and the comb has been drawn backward through the hairs and the loose ends have been clamped down by the lid II both ends are firmly held in place, but are yet easily removed by the mere raising of the clamping-lids, that the hairs are evenly distributed through the use of the comb, and the tension of the hairs may be increased or diminished in the usual way.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a violin-bow, the combination with the staff, frog and hair, of ahead having a recess or socket in its face a metal ring encircling said head and provided with a hinged lid with means for fastening it to the metal ring, said lid when so fastened adapted to hold one end of the hair firmly in said socket for the purpose specified.

2. In a violin-bow, a head having a recess or socket in its face, a clampinglid with a block 011 its under side, adapted to hold one end of the hairs of such bow in such socket, and an openingin said clamping-lid through which the loose ends of the hairs may be passed, and means for fastening such clamping-lid to the face of such head.

3. In aviolin-bow, a frog longitudinally adjustable on the staff of such bow, having a bed with a clamping plate or lid hinged to said bed adapted to clamp the hairs between said bed and lid and a toothed plate or comb for keeping the hairs evenly distributed while being thus held between such bed and lid for the purposes specified.

4-. In a violin-bow, having a head to which one end of the hairs is secured, a frog having a bed with a recess or socket a comb or toothed plate for evenly distributing the hair and adapted to rest on said bed with the hairs thus distributed; a hinged clamping plate or lid with a spring on its under side which is adapted to enter the socket in the bed; means for fastening said clam ping plate or lid to the bed, thus holding the hairs firmly between said clamping lid and bed, substantially as shown and described.

5. In a violin-bow in combination with the staffand hair, a head having a recess orsocket in its face, a ring orcollarencircling said head a clamping-lid hinged to said ring or collar an d havinga block projecting downward from its under side and a transverse opening near the middle of said lid; means for fastening said lid to the ring or collar; a frog provided with means for adjustingit longitudinally on the statf,a bed provided with a recess or socket a comb or toothed plate to engage the hairs and rest on the bed-plate ahinged clampinglid provided with a block adapted to press the hair into the recess or socket in the bed, means for fastening said clamping-lid to the bed; all for the purposes specified and substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature, this 29th day of April, 1899, in the presence of two witnesses.

GILBERT II. GREGG.

Witnesses:

HARRY W. GREGG, A. G. SAMPsoN. 

